Mark Watney is stranded on Mars after a failed evacuation. The rest of the crew, that successfully evacuated the planet, believe that he is dead, because of no visibility. Watney is left injured, but alive and must survive on his own. He starts planting potatoes and burns hydrazine to make water. He also starts documenting his life.
NASA soon realizes that he is, in fact, alive, but decides not to do anything with the situation. Watney realizes that his only was of rescue is via the next Mars mission, which will arrive four years later. Watney finds a way of communicating with Earth via a probe, and he forces NASA to inform his old crew of his survival.
Jet Proportion Laboratory plans of sending Watney enough food to wait for the next Mars mission, while Money’s crops are destroyed due to a puncture in the airlock. The food that was being sent also fails after liftoff, which makes Mark Watney sure of his death. Chinese scientists and NASA agree on sending supplies to the Mark's crew that are still on their way home from Mars and sending them back to Mars to get him.
Watney prepares for the arrival of the crew. When he sees that it isn't possible for them to land, he punctures his pressure suit, so he propels himself towards them, thereby saving himself after 560 sols alone on Mars.
